NORMAN A. RIGGINS FAMILY PAPERS, RG1000, 1862-1986

Series I, Family Papers, 1863-1986

Norman, Pattie, and Sally Riggins
late 1880's

This series consists of materials documenting the daily lives of several generations of the Riggins and Darracott families. Norman A. Riggins moved his family to Lakeland in 1884. They returned to Missouri in 1887 and moved to Lakeland once again after the death of Riggins' father, Mann Patterson Riggins, in 1895. The Riggins and Darracott families were joined in 1907 by the marriage of John W. Darracott to Mary Pattie Riggins, the daughter of Norman and Sarah "Sally" Riggins.(Norman, Sally, and Pattie are pictured above in a late 1880's photo) A daughter of that union, Margaret Darracott Pinkston, saved most of the material in this series and transcribed many of the letters. The transcriptions appear in her book, Mosswood Remembered.

The correspondence of several members of the Riggins and Darracott families are included in this series. Also included are scrapbooks, compiled by various family members, descriptions of Mosswood, the family's ancestral home on Lake Morton, newspaper clippings, and personal reminiscences.

Among the most interesting items in the series are the letters between Norman and Sarah "Sally" Riggins. The correspondence between them spans a thirty year period beginning a year before their 1883 marriage. The correspondence reveals the abiding affection between them, as well as the significant and mundane details of family life in the late nineteenth century. Norman and Sally were separated frequently when Norman traveled on business and when he stayed behind in Florida to settle his business affairs after his family had returned to Missouri in 1887.

Also of interest is Riggins narrative of his first visit to Florida in 1882. This handwritten travelogue entitled "My First Trip to Florida" documents a month-long trip Riggins took by rail, boat, and stage through northern and central Florida. It contains his often humorous and always insightful observations about Florida and Floridians of the late nineteenth century.

The records in this series are arranged alphabetically by name, subject, or type of record and chronologically within folders.